Covington Rangers

Covington Rangers

   Company I, “Covington Rangers,” 7^th Regiment, Mississippi Infantry were mustered into State service 11 August 1861 at Bay St. Louis, MS (Shieldsboro).  Along with 3^rd Regiment Mississippi Infantry, they were mustered into Confederate service on October 5, 1861 in Shieldsboro. Most of the members of this company enlisted at Mt. Carmel in Covington County, MS in April 1861.  They have also been known as “Covington Rifles” or Captain John T. Fairley’s Company.  Because of the large number of enlistees of Scottish descent in the company, it was sometimes called the “Scotch Company.”

   The 7^th Regiment and Company I was one of the most actively engaged units in the Western Theater of the Civil War.  They were with Bragg at Shiloh and Corinth, then became part of Bragg’s Army of Tennessee and fought in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia, before finally surrendering in North Carolina in 1865.

   This company had a good record.  An analysis of some of the companies of the Seventh Mississippi in The Journal of Mississippi History concluded that the regiment was one of the best in the Confederate Army. There were a few loose cannons and deserters, but very few.